Tayo Adenaike is a Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

n painter

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

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A native of Idanre

Idanre

Idanre is a Local Government Area in Ondo State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Owena.It has an area of 1,914 km² and a population of 129,024 at the 2006 census.The postal code of the area is 340....

, Adenaike is of Yoruba

Yoruba people

The Yoruba people are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. The majority of the Yoruba speak the Yoruba language...

 parentage, and studied art with Obiora Udechukwu

Obiora Udechukwu

Obiora Udechukwu is a Nigerian painter and poet.Born in Onitsha in 1946 to parents from Agulu in Anambra State, Nigeria. He studied for one year at Ahmadu Bello University before serving in the Biafran War. He completed his bachelor's degree in fine arts in 1972, receiving his master's in 1977;...

 at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Here he received his bachelor's degree

Bachelor's degree

A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...

 in 1979 and his master's of fine arts in 1982. Professionally, Adenaike has mainly worked in advertising, serving as artistic director of a firm in Enugu

Enugu

Enugu is the capital of Enugu State in Nigeria. It is located in the southeastern area of Nigeria and is largely populated by members of the Igbo ethnic group. The city has a population of 722,664 according to the 2006 Nigerian census. The name Enugu is derived from the two Igbo words Enu Ugwu...

. He paints at night and on weekends, and travels annually to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

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Adenaike's preferred medium is watercolor, into which he incorporates numerous uli

Uli (design)

Uli is the name given to the traditional designs drawn by the Igbo people of Nigeria. Uli drawings are strongly linear and do not have deep perspective; they do, however, balance positive and negative space. Designs are frequently asymmetrical, and are often painted spontaneously...

designs; more recently, he has begun adding nsibidi

Nsibidi

Nsibidi is a system of symbols indigenous to what is now southeastern Nigeria that is apparently ideographic, though there have been suggestions that it includes logographic elements...

motifs to his paintings. His designs are complex, and tend to be based on personal themes; much of his work is topical and deeply personal. Many also draw themes from his Yoruba childhood.

As a painter, Adenaike has said that he views himself as a successor to fellow Nsukka

Nsukka group

The Nsukka group is the name given to a group of Nigerian artists who were associated with the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in the 1970s. They are known, as a group, for working to revive the practice of uli and incorporate its designs into contemporary art using media such as acrylic paint,...

 artists Uche Okeke

Uche Okeke

Uche Okeke is a Nigerian painter and teacher of art. A founding member of the Nsukka group, he developed, together with Chike Aniakor and others, the art program of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka....

 and Chike Aniakor

Chike Aniakor

Chike Aniakor is a Nigerian painter. A native of Abatate, Aniakor received his first artistic training at Ahmadu Bello University, receiving his master's degree in 1974; he received a doctorate in art history from Indiana University in 1978, writing his dissertation on Igbo architecture...

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